The short answer is yes it does, with direct financial support for improvements in emission reductions for commercial buildings.

Election promises impacting the commercial property industry were:

• Green Building Fund extension (now office, retail and hotels that can be NABERS Energy rated) with $30Million dollars available for funding for new application rounds from now until July 2011.
• Tax allowance bonus for Green building improvements, for office buildings, Retail Centres (over 10,000sqm) and Hotels. Conditions will apply, but if you meet them then this is a 14.5% reduction in project costs for improving energy efficiency.

With the details yet to be defined by the responsible departments we assume that the green building fund mark 2 will be delivered fairly quickly and with their previous rounds offering around $15million per round then another two rounds should be undertaken. Perhaps one for January and one for April 2011, which allows for time to set up and then for all funding agreements to be finalised before the tax allowance bonus commences in the following financial year.
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